Oculus Drops Price of ‘Rift’ VR Headset

Looking to reduce the cost barrier to consumers who might be on the fence about buying a high-end virtual reality system, Oculus has trimmed the price of its baseline Rift headset and the Touch motion controllers.

The price reduction, which comes about a year after the Facebook-owned company started shipping the Rift, cuts the price of both products by $100 – the Rift VR headset now sells for $499, while a pair of Touch controllers fetch $99. Oculus is now selling the product bundle for $598 (down from $798)

“As we look to the year ahead, we’re focused on driving the industry forward by bringing VR to more people with the best products and the leading VR content line-up,” Oculus said in this blog post announcing that the company is also offering a new VR shooter, Robo Recall, for free with Touch controllers. “That starts with making PC VR as affordable as possible.”

Oculus Rift users will still need to pair the platform with a compatible, high-octane PC.

The price cuts arrive as Oculus and its rivals attempt to build market share.

Oculus hasn’t announces sales figures for the Rift, but Sony recently confirmed to The New York Timesthat unit sales of the PlayStation VR, a less expensive platform that connects to PS4 consoles, is nearing the 1 million mark. That puts it ahead of estimated shipments of the HTC Vive (420,000) and the Rift (243,000) tabulated by SuperData Research.